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Wednesday, 2 July 2014

Sending restricted beauty items/blog sale advice

Hi everyone. Slightly different post today, but very important for those who consider having a blog sale, or simply send beauty items via Royal Mail. I personally didn't have a clue about any UK restrictions for sending beauty items like nail polish or perfume, so I thought I should write about it to warn you and help you prevent losing a lot of money. It's not a nice feeling, especially when it's a big amount.

I recently sent a blog sale parcel with 6 bottles of nail polish and I didn't know that it was against the RM regulations. Royal Mail doesn't allow more than 4 bottles to be sent in the same parcel, so they stopped mine and didn't deliver it. As a nice person, I refunded the money to the buyer. It wasn't a big amount, only £5.00. Including whatever I paid for the parcel as well (just under £3.00), my total loss was £8.00. I am totally fine with that by the way, but that's not the problem.

I also sent another parcel, with many beauty products, including expensive perfume and makeup. Thankfully, the parcel got to the recipient safely, but... I was extremely lucky with this one! Why? If you send perfume or nail polish, it needs a special ID label, otherwise it is against the regulations and might not be delivered! God... if that parcel was stopped, I would have lost A LOT more than £8.00.

Sooo... before you send your next beauty parcel, keep the following regulations in mind:

NAIL POLISH:

Applies to Nail varnish, polish and gel (solvent and water-based)

-Volume per item must not exceed 30ml. No more than four bottles of nail varnish can be sent in any one package.

-Bottles of nail varnish must be placed in strong outer packaging and be so packed, secured or cushioned in such a way that they cannot break, be punctured or leak their contents into the outer packaging.

-An ID8000 label must be applied. The sender’s name and return address must be clearly visible on the outer packaging.

PERFUMES

Including eau de parfum, eau de toilette and alcohol-free perfumes, but excluding non-flammable perfumed creams, gels, oils or lotions.

-Volume per item must not exceed 150ml.

-No more than four perfumes or aftershaves can be sent in any one package.

-The perfume or aftershave must be within its original retail packaging and then placed in strong outer packaging.

-The inner packagings must be packed, secured or cushioned to prevent breakage or leakage of their contents into the outer packaging.

-An ID8000 label must be applied. The sender’s name and return address must be clearly visible on the outer packaging.

WOW! I DIDN'T HAVE A CLUE ABOUT ALL OF THIS! Probably, because it is quite a recent change. Perfume in it's original packaging? Yep! Thankfully, the one I sent was still sealed, but... imagine if it wasn't? I was lucky that it got delivered in the first place. I wasn't asked by the Post Office staff about the content of my parcel so they didn't put the special label on it.

I hope you found this post helpful. You can read more about all the restrictions and regulations (within UK) HERE, but there are even more restrictions in place for shipping beauty products internationally.

Let me know, if you experienced any problems with sending nail polish or perfumes etc?

12 comments:

I knew there were regulations now about nail polish but not for perfume. I think it is fair though as I once received a badly packaged nail polish that was so smashed that the envelope was completely covered! It probably wasn't very nice for the post man and it certainly wasn't nice being put in my post box! Hopefully bloggers will become more aware for their blog sales :) xx

Flip, i did not know about this! I recently sent a perfume - and i didn't have the original packaging! Seems a bit ridiculous to expect that, especially the cost of post these days and the amount of excess packaging that comes with perfumes. Saying that, I think alot slip through the cracks, as i know you are not allowed to ship nail polish to the states and vise versa and i order nail polish from eBay all the time so must be lucky of the draw!

Thanks for the heads up on this Sandra, I popped up to my PO & got a leaflet stating all their restriction & my word there are quite a few. Shame your parcel was stopped but at least you weren't too out of pockethttp://www.letstalkbeauty.co.uk/

I knew about the changes but only because I've been asked each time I've sent a parcel what it contains (or asked if it contains a liquid). Seems odd that they didn't ask about the contents as I've been asked at various different post office stores. Maybe put in a little complaint, as it seems like it's asked as standard.

didn't know any of this! a couple of months ago i did a beauty giveaway and my parcel never got there - i assume because of these restrictions! bit annoying that the post office didn't ask about what was inside so they could put a label on. thanks for the useful post!charl xxwww.aplaceonthebookshelf.blogspot.com